The dogs were out in their pen today and Rachel went out to bring them back in and when she got to the pen Guinness was wagging her tail and looking all proud. Then when Ray entered the pen she realized that Guinness had killed a chipmunk in her mouth. Its her first kill, we're so proud.
I fixed the link in the post from the other day to my get skinny blog, but here it is for all those interested. Chrisandchadgetskinny.wordpress.com
I will continue to use this blog, but my friend Chad Brown and I have opened a new one to document our attempt to become skinny.
The site is chrisandchadgetskinny.wordpress.com We will document our transformations (hopefully) and you can marvel at how sexy and smooth we both have become. Cheers.
Chris
There's just something about California.
I remember the first time I flew to California. It was 2002 and Traveling Mercies went to Palm Springs to perform at a Believe conference. It was such an awesome experience to be on the west coast for the first time. We flew into Ontario airport and drove a rented vehicle out to Palm Springs. What I remember most were the huge windmills, there are huge! Plus on the way back to the airport we stopped for In N Out......life changing.
After that show there were several other trips to California, each memorable in its own way. Jay Leno (where's that pic?), touching the Pacific for the first time, Flaps getting kicked out of a hotel, driving the length of Cali on route to Portland, California Mike, surfing, fish tacos, Rodeo Drive, freaking Knotts Berry Farm, RV catching fire (or something), watching the 2004 election in an RV park, the G Ride, Roscos Chicken and Waffles, hanging with DSM, Alfie, Walk of Fame, seeing the Hollywood sign from the RV window, filming in San Diego.
But, with all the trips and memories there were always staples.....In N Out and that feeling you always get in California that something rad could be just around the corner.
There's just something about California.
We visited a camp yesterday and had a great day. David, Aaron and I Flew out of PHX early into Burbank, drove up north an hour or so to Ojai Valley camp (or something like that). Its a cool place, laid back vibe, beautiful trees, carpet ball. We walked around, talked to some staff and campers and left. From the camp we went to the beach where we would surf and have a 'beach day', its near the Ventura pier if that means anything to you. I would have loved to have gone to the beach for camp when I was in high school, I mean you sign up for surf lessons as an afternoon rec activity. Sweet.
So we walked the beach, ate some sword fish and drove back to Burbank to catch our flight home. It was a really long day, but well spent. I think we will have a great high school week of camp there next summer.
When we were flying out I was looking down at all the houses and apartments and tried to imagine how many people were out there trying to 'make it' in the biz. I envied them a little, they had the guts to go for something that so many people fail at, but there's just something about California that makes people want to try to do something amazing. Cheers.
Chris
I am at a friends house in PHX because we flying out in the morning to visit a camp in CA tomorrow, but right now his wife pulled out their wedding video. Its a nice video, but its still their wedding video. I really can't believe we are doing this right now. Aarons wife is getting all emotional, this may be one of the silliest things ever in my life. They are dancing right now in the video, its pretty bad. Oh, now its time for the best man speech. What a crappy speech. Its still going, cake cutting included, oh how cute.....they are smashing cake in each others faces.........precious.
I get home late tomorrow. Cheers.
Chris
This summer is quickly coming to a close, 1 1/2 weeks to go. We have had week after week of camp, thousands of students, tons of food, quit a few stitches, its been a great summer. For me it has been really good because now I understand what we do so much more. It was so hard planning something that I have never done, but I really look forward to next summer with a year of experience under my belt.
As we are finishing summer we are working on our winter camps for Jan 2009. We are doing something new with all of our age groups and I think its going to be brilliant. So I hope we have much of that completed within the next 6 weeks so we can start working on next summers program. Things are exciting around here.
Cheers.
Chris
We have these awesome new friends named Shaun and Melissa that we met at the dog park several weeks ago. Since then we have gotten to hang out a lot and they are awesome. A couple of fun things about them:
1-They are our age, not super exciting, but still fun.
2-Shaun works in banking, so he and Ray always have a ton to talk about. Its funny because they were at competing banks so I aways hope they get in a big fist fight over interest rates or credit card reward programs or some other bank related topic, however its hasn't come to that yet. Oh I wish up on a star.
Sooooo this past weekend they rented a Jeep up in Sedona and invited us to come with them to do a little 4 wheelin'. We had a blast. We drove Soldier pass and Broken Arrow and we drove over some huge obsticles. It was great!!!
I have some pics, but my laptop is broken so I will post them later this week....hopefully. Cheers.
Chris
I went on my first mtb ride in a few weeks and it was great. I have just been so exhausted from camp going a hundred miles an house that I have not had any energy to get up at 5:00 to go riding. Oh, it was like reuniting with an old friend. Cheers.
Chris
Hey Guys,
I am so sorry that I haven't been blogging lately. I have been so tired with long camp days that I have nothing creative to say. However, a lot of cool things have been going on and I will report soon. Cheers.
Chris
I just found out today that a friend of mine in SA was diagnosed with cancer. He was on our touring team last year and is only 19 or 20. He has a surgery on Tuesday to cut out what they can find and see where else it has spread. Please pray its not bad and that he will be ok, such an amazing guy. I hate cancer, it ruins lives.
Chris
Weeks of camp are funny because one week can be so different from the week before or after. The teens, the sponsors, the weather, whatever it is there can be a zillion things that make weeks of camp completely different experiences.
Our first week was marked by trips to the hospital. There had to be more stitches that week than ever in the history of camp, unless it was like a samurai sword fighting camp.
The second week was marked with less blood and the kids were way more laid back than the first week. They weren't as competitive in games and just were really low key all week.
This week has been different because we have high schoolers. So when they arrive they are all cool and tough, but when you get down to it they are great students to hang out with. They are mad competative at sports (which I love) and they are all about hanging out and building relationships. Honestly, we could plan very little and they would just hang out and talk and have a great time without us, thats high school students.
So this week has also been great in that there had been no injuries....until today. I spent quite a bit of time hanging in the ER this afternoon with some of our students and pastors. We had several things happen like a peanut allergy to a concussion to a broken foot to a shoulder issue to a case of heat exhaustion/dehydration to a potentially broken collar bone. It was chaos. A nurse in the ER joked with me, when I was checking in on our wounded, and asked, "can we get camp t-shirts for spending so much time with your kids?" I thought that was hilarious.
So that was today. Everyone is fine and back at camp (except that broken foot, his mom fetched him and took him home) and it has been a tremendous week of camp, I'm really sad to see these guys go tomorrow. I know that many of them have really had some great encounters with God while here at camp and I believe the different churches are going to go home tighter and more relational than ever. I love camp. Cheers.
Chris
We only have 1 high school week of camp during the summer at our facility (we lead another week in SoCal going on this week also) and the students are so much fun. The teens are cool, the sponsors are cool, everyone is great to hang with and I am having a great time. Cheers.
Chris
I feel so lucky to have a great marriage to such a great woman. Rach and I were talking today about how we have done so much together in our 6 years of marriage and that we feel like some of the most blessed people on Earth. We may not have a lot to show for it, but we have seen some amazing places, met some amazing people and done more amazing things that I ever thought I would ever get to do. Its definitly been an adventure and I know it will continue.
Growing up I heard people say that they loved their wives more now than the day they got married and I always thought that was dumb, how could you love them more than on your wedding day. However, now I totally get it. Through the years my love for Ray and just grown and grown and we are in a place in our relationship now that is beyond words. I am so in love with my wife and love that I get to spend the rest of my life with her. Happy anniversary Ray. Cheers.
Chris
We play a game in the mornings called Bumper Soccer and its freakin' awesome. Everyday there is potential for injury and that makes for a great week of camp. Cheers.
Chris
Tonight is the first night of our 2nd week of camp and I LOVE IT!
The kids are so stoked to be at camp and during the session we all dance and yell and have a great time, its so great to see their excitement. Cheers.
Chris
Camps here. We have 250ish people here for our first week and I am so stoked. Everything came together tonight for the first session and I believe we are going to have a great summer and that lives are really going to be changed.
We have a great lineup. Josh Finklea is our speaker and DSM is our band for the week. Tonight was great and they both did an awesome job.
I am so stoked its summer, its like we have been working so long for this and its great that its here. Cheers
Chris
Demetrius
I told you the other day about Demetrius being in the hospital in Phoenix after a bad head injury. Well, he is out of the ICU now and should be out of the hospital within a few days. I am so glad that he will make a recovery.
Damar
We almost lost Damar today. Heres what happened. Yesterday I came home from work and she had thrown up in the living room. She ended up throwing up a few more times and we were getting concerned because she couldn't keep anything down. We ended up taking her to the vet and they said that she needed emergency surgery or she would die in a few hours.
Apparently she had eaten something that she wasn't supposed to and it was obstructing her bowels. Be cause of that she ended up getting gas bloating her stomach and it was getting twisted up and flipped upside down. She should be fine the doctor said after the surgery. We will be able to get here on Monday or Tuesday.
MMA
CBS broadcasted the first MMA event on network TV tonight. I think that is cool and will end up being really good for the sport.
Camp
Camp starts tomorrow. I think we are good to go, I am sure we will find a ton of little things that need to be worked on, but it will be fine. We have 211 people showing up tomorrow afternoon for the jr high week and I am not sure how many kids are coming for junior camp. This means I will be busy until August. Cheers.
Chris
